That Year
by Nimmireth
Summary: AU. No Pairings as of yet. Eleven year old Casey Novak recieves a letter that will change the course of her life forever. All characters included including Alex.
1. A Letter From Who?

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything that you recognize from Law and Order: Special Victims Unit or Harry Potter. **

**Author's Note: I apologize for any spelling errors. AU. No pairing as of yet. In this story, Harry Potter wasn't even born yet. The format on the letter is messed up.Please bear with me, ismessed up with the whole format thing and it doesn't make me all that happy, but whatever.REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! **

**That Year  
**_By: Nimmireth _

Chapter 1: A Letter From Who?

Casey Novak, an eleven year old girl, was currently sitting on her bed reading _The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. _It was her favorite book and she hadn't read it since she was nine. This book brought her into a magical place where she could forget about the chaos of having four brothers and be plunged into a world of adventure, fantasy, and excitement. She was just about to get to her favorite part when she heard her name being called.

"Casey! Casey, honey! Will you go outside and get the mail for me while I go make lunch?" her mother asked.

She blinked and looked around her room. The white walls and ceiling were blinding; the blinds were open to allow sunlight to come in; her bed was unmade (she didn't see the point in making it) with three sky blue sheets all underneath a white quilt with flowers of many different colors; her wooden floor was nice and warm underneath a puffy, dark blue rug. She had a white set of bureau dreaus that contained shorts, shirts and undergarments and a large rectangular mirror hung vertically over them.

She looked over to her white, double-doored closet which kept all of her nice dresses for fancy occasions. One door was open and she could see her silk, lime-green dress that came with a flower. It was the dress that she wore to her brother, Justin's, high school graduation. She looked over onto her bedside table where there was a picture of her and her brother at the graduation. She was sitting on his lap with her arm around his shoulder and they were both smiling and holding his diploma. He later got accepted to Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and he was moving out next month. Even though school started in two months, he felt he needed to get acquainted with the campus before the start of the term. She was really going to miss him.

"Casey! Did you hear me? Could you go get the mail while I make lunch?"

Casey sighed and folded down the page that she was on. Leaving the book on the bed, she leapt off, brushed her shoulder length, bright red hair behind her ears and rushed down two flights of stairs to the sound of her mother's voice. She raced through the kitchen, the entrance hallway, and out the front door.

She dashed down the steps of the porch and took a shortcut across the grass inside of the U-shaped driveway. She finally arrived at the black, metallic mailbox that read "Novak" along the side in white letters. She opened it up: there was a crapload of mail. "Whoa!" she shouted. "That's a lotta mail!" She pulled it out of the box and began to flip through it. "Hmm…"she said. " Let's see here. Bill. Bill. Another bill. Another bill. College thing for Matt. College thing for Matt. College thing for Jason. College thing for Austin. Another college thing for Austin. G-d! What's wrong with these colleges? Why would they bother putting up with any Novak? Let alone any of my brothers."

Once she had finally gotten through all of the bills and college letter for her brothers, she came to a parchment paper like envelope written in green ink addressed to her. "Sweet," she said. "Mail for me!"

She went back inside, placed the mail that didn't belong to her on the kitchen counter, took her own mail up to her room and sat down on her bed next to _The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. _She stared down at the parchment envelope and the green letters spelling out her name and home address before turning it over. At the tip of the triangle was a reddish-brown sticker with a coat of arms: a lion, a badger, a falcon, and a python were all surrounding a big letter "H." What the heck could that mean? She wondered to herself.

She found the opening of the envelope and put a finger inside of it. She ripped it open with her finger and pulled out the letter that was inside:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL  
_Of_ WITCHCRAFT _and _WIZARDRY  
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore  
_(Order of Merlin, First class, Grand Sorc.,Chf. Warlock,  
__Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards) _

Dear Miss Novak,  
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted  
to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find  
enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.  
Term begins on September 1st. We await your owl by no  
later than July 31st.  
Yours sincerely,  
Minerva McGonagall,  
_Deputy Headmistress _

The only thing running through Casey's head was what the heck? Who wrote this and do they really have that much time on their hands? Wait a minute, she thought. The only person who I know would do this is Emily. Yes, it's definitely from Emily. She then burst out giggling. The giggling then became a fit of hysterical laughter. The laughter lasted about one minute. She realized that she had started crying because of it. She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. She put it on her bedside table to hang it up later; she was going to keep it. It had given her the best laugh in a long time.

_**SCENEANDTIMECHNAGETHING**_

The entire Novak family was seated at the kitchen table for dinner. Richard Novak, the father, was sitting next to his wife, Annalizabeth, and talking to her about the concept of Buddhism with her rapt attentiveness. The eldest brother, Justin, was in deep conversation with the next two brothers, Matt and Jason, about the Olympics. The last brother, Austin, and the youngest and only daughter, Casey, were talking rather rapidly about Band and Orchestra.

"You can't be serious, Austin! I have been playing the Viola for four years and the Oboe for two years and never have I ever said that any instrument sounds like a dying chicken!" she said.

"I swear it, Casey; you once told me that the Oboe sounds like a dying chicken!" Austin replied.

"Not true!" she exclaimed. "The day that I say the Oboe sounds like a dying chicken is the day that I go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

"What?" he asked. Although he wasn't the only one that spoke. Casey looked across the table and noticed that her mother's eyes grew wide and was staring directly at her. "What did you say?" Annalizabeth asked.

"I said," Casey began. "That the day I say that the Oboe sounds like a dying chicken is the day that I go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"Where did you hear about Hogwarts?" Annalizabeth wondered.

One of Casey's eyebrows went towards her hairline while the other moved closer to her eye. "Mom, it's nothing; I just got this letter that said that I was accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I thought that my friend Emily sent it to me as a joke. I thought it was funny," Casey told her.

Annalizabeth looked down at her now empty plate, her eyes still wide. "Mom, what's up?" Matt asked, now that his mother had caught the attention of the entire family.

She took a deep breath. "Nothing," she told them. "Nothing, I'm fine."

_S**CENEANDTIMECHANGETHING**_

Now the Novak family was seated in the family room around the television watching a rerun of ER. The lights were turned off and the colors from the T.V. were flashing around the room. Casey thought it was rather hypnotizing and was falling asleep on Matt's shoulder. Everyone else was riveted to the screen in fear that they would miss something, even though it was a rerun.

Finally, the episode ended. The lights were turned on and the T.V. was turned off. Everyone was standing up and getting ready to go to bed. Casey woke up, rubbed her light green eyes and yawned. Matt took her hands and helped her up off of the couch. They were all going their separate ways when Annalizabeth's voice stopped them.

"Uh, guys? I think there's something I should tell you…"


	2. Going?

**Disclaimer: The property of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit belongs to Dick Wolf and the property of Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. I also forgot to mention that I do not own the property of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. **

**Author's Note: Thank you for all of the lovely people who reviewed. Now to those people who don't or didn't review before…REVIEW!**

**That Year  
**_By: Nimmireth _

Chapter 2: Going?

"You WHAT!"

"What the hell!"

"You went WHERE!" was the reaction from the entire family.

"I'm a witch," Annalizabeth repeated. "And I went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Matt shouted.

"When were you going to tell us about this again?" Jason wondered.

"Why haven't you told me this before?" Richard bellowed.

Annalizabeth sighed. "I didn't think that you would believe me and I thought that you would think I was crazy!" she told them. "I would have been banished by my own family!"

"Still," Richard said. "You thought that you would wait for almost twenty years before telling me that you were a witch!"

"Look, I'm sorry, all right!" she said. "I didn't know what else to do. Richard, I met you in a coffee shop and I automatically assumed that you were a Muggle."

"A what-le?"

"A Muggle: a person with no magical heritage whatsoever. And I was right, wasn't I?"

"Well, yea, I am a…Muggle. But you still could have told me before!"

"I know! I thought I would have been able to when the others were accepted, but they weren't; unless they got the acceptance letter without letting me know."

All four boys shook their heads. "We never got nothing from any Wizarding school!" Jason said.

"And I didn't think Casey would get in either. So I just…left it alone, until now."

"Left it alone? LEFT IT ALONE! How could you possibly leave alone the fact that you were…are…a witch!"

"I don't know. I just…I don't know! Stop asking questions! I don't even know the answer anymore!" And with that the entire room became silent. It remained that way until Austin broke the silence.

"So, is she going to go?" he asked. Everyone looked at him. "What? Is she going to go or not?"

Annalizabeth sighed. "That's up to her," she told him. She glanced down at her daughter. "Casey," she said. "Do you want to go to Hogwarts?"

All of their eyes wandered over to the little girl, who was looking as shocked as ever. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was slightly open. She was still holding Matt's hand and looked upward at him for his assistance. "What should I do, Matty?"

He shrugged. "Don't look at me; you were the one who got accepted to this school thing," he told her.

Casey looked back at her mother as she knelt down next to her. There was a pause as mother and daughter both looked into each other's eyes. Finally, the young red-head sighed and nodded. "I want to do it," she told her. "I want to go to Hogwarts."

She was in her bed. She wasn't sleeping; she couldn't even stay put. She was thinking. Thinking about the decision she had just made not too long ago.

She was going. She was going to go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn magic. At first, she was going to go to a place where she was going to learn math and science and history. But now she was going to go to a place where she was going to learn magic.

She didn't even know how to react. Should she be happy? Scared? Nervous? Ecstatic? She has absolutely no idea. All she knew was that she was going to Hogwarts on September 1st. Her anxiety and nerves finally got the best of her and she shot upward, turned on the light and picked up the envelope.

She reread the acceptance letter and fished around for another piece of parchment paper inside of the envelope. It was a list. A list of all of the things that she needed if she was to attend Hogwarts:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL  
_Of _WITCHCRAFT _and _WIZARDRY

uniform  
First year students will require:  
1. Three sets of plain work clothes (black)  
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear.  
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)  
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags.

course books  
All students should carry a copy of each of the following:  
_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) _by Miranda Goshawk  
_A History of Magic _by Bathilda Bagshot  
_Magical Theory _by Adalbert Waffling  
_A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration _by Emeric Switch  
_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi _by Phyllida Spore  
_Magical Drafts and Potions _by Arsenius Jigger  
_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them _by Newt Scamander  
_The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection _by Quentin Trimble

other equipment  
1 wand  
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)  
1 set glass or crystal phials  
1 telescope  
1set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEAR STUDENTS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BRING THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

Casey read the list several times. Where am I going to get all of this stuff? She wondered. I mean, it's not like they sell _The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) _at Borders.

She rolled her eyes. Am I sure that this is even happening? She thought. I have always been taught that there was no such thing as magic and that it was a sin. Now I'm going to a school to learn magic. This makes no sense to me. "GAAAAH!" she yelled, but yelled quiet enough so that the rest of the family wouldn't wake up and think that she was being kidnapped. "What the heck?" she sighed and looked at her book sitting next to her on her bedside table. She decided that she would talk to her mom later about the whole thing and just read for now. Just to get her mind off of things.

**_SCENEANDTIMECHANGETHING_**

_She was running. Why? Why? Why was she running? Running away from something. She didn't know what but she was running away from something. She turned around. Someone was following her. Crap. Oh, crap. This was not good. The person was gaining on her. Getting closer and closer and closer. Not good. Definitely not good. Crap. Oh, crap. Gotta get out of here, fast. Run. Run as fast as she can. _

_Dead end. Oh, great. Even worse. Nowhere to go. Crap. Oh, crap. This is definitely not good. Definitely not good at all. CRAP! Turn around. That person is still there. Still gaining on her. Still getting closer and closer and closer. _

_Then she shivers, because he just laughed. More like an evil little chuckle. A low pitched, evil little chuckle. Then he said something, she couldn't make out the words, but then there was a blinding green light and she was dead. _

**_SCENEANDTIMECHANGETHING_**

She screamed and flew upwards in her bed. She had fallen asleep without realizing it. Her book was still open, lying on her stomach. She picked it up and folded down the page that she had been reading before she had fallen asleep and placed it back on her bedside table.

She sighed. That dream. That nightmare. What happened? Who was that? She tried to remember the face of the man who laughed and then killed her. But she couldn't see it. She couldn't picture it any longer. It had been too vague. It had been very brief. What did it mean? Did it mean something was going to happen? Did it mean nothing? It probably meant something, but what?

Oh, knock it off, Casey! She yelled at herself. Just because you're going to be a witch doesn't mean that you're going to start predicting the future now, all right? Now get over yourself.

She sighed again and looked around on her bedside table for her C.D. player. She found it, put the headphones on, turned it on and tried to get back to sleep.

**_SCENEANDTIMECHANGETHING_**

The smell of warm, cooked bacon and chocolate chip waffles reached Casey's nose as she woke up. She sniffed the air and her salivary glands burst. She was suddenly ravenous. I'm really hungry. She thought. I'm going to go get food.

She pushed the covers off of her body and rolled out of her bed, taking the headphones off of her ears. She sped down the stairs and walked into the kitchen to find her mother at the stove, sizzling bacon in a pan and pouring pancake batter with chocolate chips mixed into it into another pan.

"Morning, mom," Casey said.

"Morning, hon," Annalizabeth responded. "Hungry?"

"Yes," she said, a little too quickly. "I'm starving half to death!"

"All right, go sit down. I'll get you some food."

"Thanks," Casey said. "Hey, mom?"

"Yea?" She said, putting some food on a porcelain plate.

"How are we going to get all the stuff that I need for Hogwarts?"

Annalizabeth walked over to the table, put the plate down in front of her daughter and sat down on a wooden chair next to her. "Diagon Alley, of course."


	3. Diagon Alley

**Disclaimer: Once again, I do not claim to own anything that you recognize. **

**Author's Note: I really don't like this chapter, but it's necessary. If the descriptions are a little off, pay no attention to it; it's how I picture it if the movies never existed. There's a line in here that's a little cheesy; I don't have to tell you cuz you'll know it when you see it. REVIEW, DAMMIT, REVIEW!**

**That Year  
**_By: Nimmireth _

Chapter 3: Diagon Alley

Annalizabeth and Casey were walking down a long, stone road around a strip mall filled with a bunch of teenagers with shopping bags, women admiring clothes in the widows, and some random kids jamming in the middle of the street. It felt like they had been walking for hours and yet they still hadn't reached their destination. "Mom?" Casey beckoned. "How much farther do we have to walk? My feet are killing me."

"We're almost there," her mom replied. "I can see it now."

"See what exactly? Where are we going?" Casey asked, trying to catch up to her mother who just sped up.

"You'll see."

They came up to a wooden, black door with a black sign over it that read the words The Leaky Cauldron in gold, cursive letters. A few men walked right passed it, and Casey felt as if she and her mother were the only people who could see the door to The Leaky Cauldron. Casey took one last glance at the Muggle world before her mother opened up the door and entered.

What they walked into was a bar packed with people wearing cloaks and funny hats all drinking from mugs that could have been from the 1500s. There were no lights or, not to mention, any signs of electricity. The only source of light was from the windows and burning white wax candles.

"Annalizabeth, darling, is that you?" called a man from across the room behind the counter.

"Tom!" she yelled. "Yes, it is. I can't believe you remembered. It's been a while since I've been here."

"Too true, too true," he said. He came out from around the bar and took her hand to kiss it. "What'll it be?"

"Oh, I can't stay for long. I'm going over to the Alley to get Hogwarts things for my daughter," she told him, gesturing towards Casey.

Tom glanced over at her. "Jiminy Cricket!" he said. "And who might this be?" he asked, wandering over to the little girl.

"Tom, meet Casey, my daughter. Casey, meet Tom, owner of the Leaky Cauldron" Annalizabeth said.

"Nice to meet you," Casey said, extending her arm.

"The pleasure is all mine," he replied, taking the palm of her hand and kissing her knuckles.

"Well, that's that, now we must head off to the Alley," Annalizabeth declared. "Later, Tom."

"Bye," he said and headed back to the counter.

Annalizabeth took Casey's hand and lead her toward the back of the bar. There was another black wooden door. Annalizabeth opened it and walked through with Casey. The only thing that was there was a small alley with a brick wall and tin garbage can.

Casey was really confused. "This is Diagon Alley?" she asked. "There's nothing here."

"Patience, Casey. Patience," Annalizabeth told her daughter. "I haven't done this in a long time." She quickly glanced around the wall. She finally found what she was looking for and walked up to a little spot in the wall where there was a brick or two pushed into the wall deeper then all of the other ones. She opened up her jacket and withdrew a long wooden stick from an inside pocket. She looked at it for a brief second. "I knew there was a reason why I kept this thing," she said.

Casey gazed at it, mouth open a little bit. "Is that a wand?" she asked.

"What this?" her mother asked, waving the wooden stick. "Yes ma'am: Oak, phoenix tail feather, flexible, 12 inches. Saved me a ton for Transfiguration. Now, let's see…what was it? Oh, yeah! Three up…" she tapped the wall three times with her wand, going upwards. "…and two across…" this time, she tapped the wall twice, going across.

Annalizabeth then stood away from the wall and stared at it. Casey did the same. One of the bricks twitched and then a small hole appeared. It got bigger and bigger and wider and wider until it was big enough for the both of them to walk through.

"This isn't Diagon Alley," Annalizabeth said, pointing at the small area that they were currently standing in. "_That _is Diagon Alley." She gestured to a much larger alley filled with people wearing cloaks and hats of all different colors, carrying shopping bags from different shops that contained things that weren't even imaginable.

Casey gasped. "Oh, my GOD!" she said. "Oh. My. GOD! Look at this place!"

"Fascinating, isn't it?" her mother asked. "I remember what I said the first time I came here: 'Holy crap! It's like magic!'" They both burst out laughing. Once they calmed down, Annalizabeth spoke as they started walking. "Well, we have a lot of places to go to, but we have to go to Gringotts first."

"Where?" Casey asked, looking in every direction trying to catch a glimpse at everything.

"Gringotts: the wizard bank. If I remember correctly there are three different kinds of wizard coins: Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts; Galleons are gold, Sickles are silver, and Knuts are bronze. There are seventeen Sickles to a Galleon and there are twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle. I actually bothered to calculate how many Knuts it is to a Galleon: 459.

Now, I think I still have an account from when I was a kid because my parents had one. Everyone in my family was either a witch or a wizard. They weren't too happy when I married Richard, but nonetheless they were satisfied. They opened up a separate account for me just in case I decided to have you guys go to Hogwarts, so there should be plenty of coins in there."

Casey nodded. "Hey, mom?" she asked. "You do have siblings, right?"

Annalizabeth stopped and nodded slowly. "Yea…a sister and two brothers: My sister, Tiffany works with the Ministry of Magic; one of my brothers, Benjamin, plays Quidditch; my other brother, Jeremy…I have no idea what happened to him. He just vanished after his seventh year. He was the only one who got put into Slytherin."

"Into where?" Casey wondered, finally looking at her mother.

"Slytherin: one of the houses at Hogwarts. There are four: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Tiffany, Benjamin and I got put into Gryffindor while Jeremy got put into Slytherin. It has been said that Slytherin is the house where people go bad. That was the house where You-Know-Who was in."

"You-Know-Who? I afraid I don't know who. Who's You-Know-Who?"

Annalizabeth sighed. "I can't say his name. But I will tell you this: he is the most evil, most wicked, most feared wizard of all time. In fact, he's so vile that no witch or wizard can say his name. Do you know what he's done? He has killed hundreds upon hundreds of innocent people, Muggles and magic folk alike. Some people were so scared of him that they did the only thing that they could to gain protection, and that was to join him. Those people are called Death Eaters, and they do whatever he says. Even if it means killing someone, they will do whatever he wants. He is pure evil, Casey. Pure evil."

They both stood and stared at each other for a very long time. "Well, now that that has been established, let's get your stuff. Come on, off to Gringotts."

They came up to a tall white building that looked as if it was going to collapse. Annalizabeth and Casey walked up to shiny bronze double doors being guarded by…

"Umm…" Casey said.

"Goblins," her mother whispered to her. "Nasty and peculiar little creatures. And trying to rob this place is like trying to figure out how to fix our computer: impossible."

The two goblins opened up the bronze doors only to reveal another set of double doors that were silver and had words engraved on them:

_Enter, stranger, but take heed  
__Of what awaits the sin of greed  
__For those who take but do not earn,  
__Must pay most dearly in their turn.  
__So if you seek beneath our floors  
__A treasure that was never yours,  
__Thief you have been warned, beware  
__Of finding more that treasure there. _

"See, what did I tell you?" Annalizabeth asked. "To rob this place is to be insane."

They walked into the main room of the bank and found more goblins, hundreds of them, all on tall stools behind a stretched counter, weighing precious gems on scales, counting gold coins and helping other customers in and out of more doors. Casey and Annalizabeth walked up to a goblin that was available. "Hello," Annalizabeth said to the goblin. "I need to withdraw some money from the Novak safe."

"Got your key?" he asked.

Annalizabeth went into her jacket pocket again and pulled out a little golden key. "Of course," she said.

"All right, then," he said. "I'll just get someone to take you there. Orpheus!"

Another goblin—Casey assumed it was Orpheus—came up to them and led them through another door. There was a small passageway that was very dark, surrounded by torches. Little railway tracks lead down a steep slope. Orpheus whistled and a cart rattled up towards them.

"I warn you," Annalizabeth said. "Hold on tight, these things go fast; really, really fast." Then they got into a cart and they were off. It started so suddenly that Casey let out a little yelp when the ride began. They went past many twists and turns that Casey felt as if they were in some kind of Indiana Jones roller coaster.

Finally, they came to a stop in front of a large, circular door inside of the passage wall. They all got out of the cart and walked up to the door. Orpheus took the key and unlocked it. Once it opened, Casey gasped at huge piles of gold, silver and bronze coins.

The pile of golden Galleons came up to her knees and was about two feet wide. The same thing was true for the Sickles and Knuts. Her mother piled a bunch of the coins into three navy blue velvet bags the size of Annalizabeth's hand. "That should be enough," she said as she exited the vault and went back into the cart.

They finally got out of Gringotts and back into Diagon Alley. They traveled into Madam Malkin's to get robes, The cauldron shop to get her cauldron, Flourish and Blotts to get her books (Annalizabeth had a really difficult time trying to get Casey out of there), as well as other places to get quills, ink, and potion ingredients among other things.

"Tell you what," Annalizabeth began. "To make time go faster, I'll go to Eeylops to get you an owl and you go to Ollivanders to get a wand. It's just over there," she said, pointing to her left. "The owl shop isn't that far away and I won't be too long, so I'll meet you at Ollivanders."

Casey approached the wand shop and a sign over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. She opened the door and entered the small and dim place to a bell hanging from the door, ringing softly as it opened. She looked around and noticed hundreds of thousands of slender boxes piled one upon another. She went to go sit down in a chair when she heard a quiet voice speaking to her.

"Good afternoon," the voice said. Casey turned around and saw a man standing over her, his dark hair matching his shop and his pale eyes staring at her pastel complexion.

"Hi," she said. "I'm Casey."

"I'm Mr. Ollivander," he began. "And I can see Annalizabeth Doyle all over your face. I remember that wand very well; oak, phoenix tail feather, flexible, 12 inches, if I'm not mistaken. Wonderful for transfiguration. She was very fond of it, but I still stand by what my family has said for years: 'It's the wand that chooses the wizard.'"

From his pocket he pulled out a tape measure with silver markings. "Hmm…now, which is your wand hand?"

Casey blinked. "Well, umm…I'm right-handed."

"Hold out your arm, then," he told her. She was then measured from elbow to wrist, shoulder to elbow, shoulder to the tip of her middle finger, armpit to elbow and around her head. During all this measuring, Mr. Ollivander spoke. "Every wand that we make has a core of a powerful magical substance: unicorn tail hairs, phoenix tail feathers, or dragon heartstrings. No wand made by an Ollivander is exactly the same as another, and if you try someone else's wand, it won't be the same." When Mr. Ollivander was taking down wands from different shelves, she noticed that the tape measure was doing the measuring all by itself.

"Now, let's see," he began, taking the tape measure and putting it back in his pocket. "Try this one: holly, unicorn tail hair, inflexible, ten-and-a-half inches. Wave it around."

She took it in her hands, but it just barely touched her fingers before he grabbed it from her. "No, no, no. That's not the one. Perhaps this one: ebony, dragon heartstring, twelve inches, pliable."

"Pardon me, but how will I know which one is the right one?" Casey asked, taking the wand he handed to her.

"Believe me, you'll know."

And then Casey tried the wand he had given her. Then she tried another one. Then another. Then another. And another. Casey was beginning to think that she wasn't destined for any wand when he finally found one.

"A let's see: willow, unicorn tail hair, eleven-and-a-half inches, very flexible." He handed it to her and she suddenly felt this rising heat crawling from her fingertips to the rest of her body. Then she flicked the wand around her head and straight across from her and out came sparks that were red and gold. Mr. Ollivander nodded. "Yes, yes, that is the one. Very nice. Very nice, indeed. Yes."

He took the wand and put it back in its box, wrapped it up in brown paper and gave it to her. She paid seven Galleons and Mr. Ollivander opened the door to allow her to get out of the shop.

Annalizabeth was standing right outside. "Hey, hon. What kind did you get?"

"Willow, unicorn tail hair, eleven-and-a-half inches, very flexible. At least, that's what Mr. Ollivander said," Casey told her.

"And look at this little guy," her mother said. She lifted up a cage with a dome at the top and inside it was a brown, barred owl. "Didn't cost that much, either."

Casey stared at the owl with a grin. "You know, I've always wanted an owl," she told her.

"No, you haven't."

"Yes, I have."

"No, remember when you were five and we went to the zoo and you got so freaked out of the owls that you never wanted to go there again?"

"That was six years ago! I get over things."

"Really?"

"Really!" And with that, they both continued their little chat until they got back home.


	4. Hogwarts Express

**Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it…**

**Author's Note: Pardon my really bad spelling. I apologize if the characters are a little OOC, I have absolutely no idea what they would be like if they were kids so I've been left to guesstimate. REVIEW OR I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND BITE YOUR LEGS OFF! I promise it will get more exciting later. I just have to get past the basics that you guys already know about first. **

**Oh, by the way, I got the fifth season of SVU on DVD for Hannukah, right? And I watched the episode "Mean"…a lot. And I have come to this sudden realization that I fucked up on Casey's age. And because I'm lazy and don't feel like re-posting the entire story all over again, I'm going to change her birthday to July 17th…just so you know. I thank you for your time and understanding…**

**That Year  
**_By: Nimmireth _

Chapter 4: Hogwarts Express

"Come on, Casey, rise and shine! We have to leave in an hour to get to King's Cross," her mother told her.

Casey groaned. "What time is it?" she wondered, sounding groggy.

"9:15. Your train leaves at 11:00. Come on, get up and get ready. You have to wear Muggle clothes for now, but before you get to Hogwarts you have to change into your robes. I'll go make some food while you get dressed."

Her mother exited the room while Casey pushed herself up from the bed. She opened her eyes, but the light was too bright. She had to close them and make the attempt to reopen them. She kept doing so until her eyes finally adjusted to the light and she was able to keep them open for more than two seconds.

She got out of her bed and walked over to her set of bureau dreaurs and pulled out a green shirt that read the words "No autographs, please" and a pair of denim kapris that went down to her knees. She picked up her hairbrush and brushed her hair until it was almost static and separated her hair into three sections to braid it. She then tied it with a green rubber band and went downstairs.

Casey came into the kitchen and saw her mom cooking scrambled eggs and French toast on the stove. "So," she began. "What can you tell me about Hogwarts?"

"Well," Annalizabeth said. "It's a boarding school, so you will be there most of the year. You have the option to come home during the winter holidays. Each day consists of any of these classes: Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, History of Magic, Defense against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Astrology, among others. Once you get to third year you get to choose some of your classes. I, unfortunately, chose Divination."

"What's that?"

"A stupid class where the professor tries to tell you how to see what could happen in the future, only in not so many words," she said. "The professor was a fraud, as well as any other professor who makes the attempt to teach the class. It's stupid; Muggle Studies would have been so much more interesting."

"Muggle Studies? Who the heck would want to learn about Muggles?"

"Someone who's not a Muggle," she said, putting a plate with food on it on front of Casey and sitting down next to her in front of another plate of food. "Besides, I only knew magical life when I was in school, so Muggle Studies would have been so interesting. I also took Ancient Runes, that class was awesome. The professor was nice, too. I got really good marks; Os mostly, but I got a couple Es."

"Os? Es? What happened to As and Bs? What's the grading system?" Casey wondered between mouthfuls of French toast.

"O stands for 'outstanding', E means 'exceeds expectations', A stands for 'acceptable', P is 'poor', D is 'dreadful', and T is for 'troll'," Annalizabeth told her after finishing some eggs. "But those grades are only used for O.W.L and N.E.W.T exams and you don't have to take those until fifth and seventh year, so you have some time before then."

Casey swallowed some food before asking "What happens when you get there?"

"Well," she began. "There will be someone to lead the first years across the lake while the others ride carriages to the school. But when you get there, someone will explain what goes on during the sorting, what different houses there are, etc. Then you go into the Great Hall to be sorted into your houses and then there is the Opening Feast. It's the best thing in the world. Oh, my god, the food is so good.

Anyway, after that there are announcements and bedtime. The next day you get your course schedules and such. Then you have all of your classes in various parts of the castle. It took me a while to finally get to classes on time, but you'll figure it out faster than I did, I'm sure.

Every once in a while there will be Quidditch games. Quidditch is a sport played on broomsticks. There are three Chasers, two Beaters, a Keeper, and a Seeker. It would take too long for me to explain it, but you could probably figure it out just by watching it. It's such a fun game. My brother, Benjamin, was the Keeper on the Gryffindor team. Now he plays professionally for Sweden. Remember three years ago when I told you guys I was going on a trip with a few friends to France just to see the sights?"

"Yeah," Casey nodded.

"I lied; Tiffany and I went to see my brother participate in the Quidditch World Cup. They won. The game lasted for two days. Two days! I though Benny was going to have a heart attack every time their Seeker was after the Snitch."

"The Snitch?" Casey wondered.

"A little golden ball the size of a walnut with wings and is disgustingly fast and almost impossible to find. The Seeker has to catch it and the Seeker who does catch it ends the game and gets their team one hundred and fifty more points."

"Oh," Casey said, rather confused and ate some more eggs.

"Yeah," Annalizabeth said. She looked at her watch. "We have to go in ten minutes, just so you know. So finish up, brush your teeth and then we'll leave."

She did just what her mother said, and before she knew it she was packing all of her magical belongings in the trunk and put her owl—or Huey, as Casey randomly began to call him and dubbed that to be his name—in the backseat. She sat down in the back next to him and then they were on their way to King's Cross train station.

_**SCENEANDTIMECHANGETHING **_

Casey began to take her things out of the trunk while Annalizabeth went to go get a cart to put everything on. Casey found it just a little bit weird that she had an owl with her, but nonetheless her stomach was tingling with excitement and nerves.

Her mom finally came back with the cart and they both began putting her supplies on it. "Mom, what platform are we headed to?" she asked.

"Nine-and-three-quarters," Annalizabeth told her.

She stopped in her tracks and held up her palms. "Whoa," Casey said. "Nine-and-three-quarters? That doesn't even exist!"

"Remember, Casey," her mother began, putting her trunk on the cart. "You're going to a magical place; of course it exists."

She nodded. "Right," she began. "Of course. How could I forget?"

They finally finished putting her belongings on the cart and began strolling through the different platforms. They went past platforms one through eight and when they got to platform nine, Annalizabeth stopped and her daughter followed suit. Annalizabeth gave Casey's ticket to her and then looked at the brick wall in front of her. "There it is," she told her.

Casey raised an eyebrow. "There what is?" she wondered, folding her ticket.

"Platform nine-and-three-quarters," her mother said. "Just walk through the wall."

"Excuse me?" Casey said, glancing at her mother. "'Walk through the wall?'"

"Yup," Annalizabeth said. "Just go on. You can run if you're nervous. Don't worry; it's not hard. And I'll go in after you."

Casey looked from her mother, to the wall, back to her mother and to the wall again. She took a deep breath and began rolling her cart in the direction of the barrier. She got closer and closer and went faster and faster. This isn't happening, she thought. This isn't going to work. I'm going to crash and break my neck. She found herself sprinting towards the wall and closed her eyes, expecting to collide with the bricks plastered together with cement.

Only thing is, she didn't; instead she found herself staring at a huge scarlet red engine steaming with smoke. There was a sign right above it that read Hogwarts Express, eleven o'clock. She checked her watch; it read 10:53, she had seven minutes left until the train left for Hogwarts. She turned around; an iron arch stood there with a sign over it that read the words Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters. "I got through," she said, more to herself than anyone else. "I got through."

"Alexandra Natalie Cabot!" she heard someone shout. Casey looked over and saw a girl who appeared to be older than her with short brown hair, brown eyes and wearing a knee-length black skirt and a blue shirt.

"Olivia Rachel Benson!" another girl shouted back to her. This girl—Alexandra, as the other girl, Olivia, had said her name was—had shoulder length blonde hair and bright blue eyes and wearing black glasses. She had on blue jeans and a sparkly purple shirt. She started running in Olivia's direction and glomped her when she got to her.

Before they could break apart, a boy about six feet tall who looked around sixteen with black hair and blue eyes walked up to them and picked them both up, one girl in each arm. They let out little screams as he twirled them around. He finally put them down and kissed them on the top of their heads. "Liv, Alex," he said. "It's been a while."

"Elliot, it's been three months," Alex told him.

"Exactly," he replied. "Three months is a long time, Alex, to be without friends."

"What about Kathy?" Olivia wondered.

"What about her?" Elliot asked.

"What? Didn't you see her over the break?"

"Yes," he said.

"Well, there you go; you did hang out with people during the summer," Alex told him.

"What are you, a lawyer?" he asked.

"A what?"

"Never mind," he said. "This is what I get for being born into a Muggle family with a bunch of law enforcers. Come on; let's get our asses onto the love train, shall we?"

"We shall," the girls responded. They all rolled their packages over to the train and started packing them onto a car when Annalizabeth appeared from behind the blockade.

She sighed. "This place has not changed one bit," she told her daughter. "I remember that steam engine; it broke down my fourth year. Magic does work wonders, though; we were on our way there seconds after a spell was performed." She checked her watch and rubbed her daughter's shoulders. "Come on; let's get your stuff on the train."

Casey and Annalizabeth both approached a car and began shoving her stuff into the compartment above the seat. Once they were done, Annalizabeth got off and Casey leaned out the window to talk to her. "Now," Annalizabeth began. "I'll be waiting outside the wall when you get back. Now just pay attention during class and have fun; it's a really great place, you'll love it. I love you, honey."

"Love you, too, mom. Bye," Casey said. Just as the train started to move her mother turned around and disappeared right before her eyes.


End file.
